Sources: Blue Apron Cooks Up $50M From Stripes Group At $450M Valuation

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Blue Apron is raising $50 million Series C round led by Stripes Group, TechCrunch has learned. The latest round is based on a $450 million valuation, according to multiple sources.

It is unclear whether or not the deal has officially closed or still in the process of being finalized.

We had previously reported that Blue Apron was raising $30 million on the $500 million valuation that had been reported by Fortune, but those numbers seem to be preliminary. Other sources have said that cofounder Matt Salzberg was looking for a $500 million valuation for this round, though he has apparently settled for a touch less.

Blue Apron, for those of you still getting up to speed, is a company that delivers fresh ingredients and recipes to your home for your cooking pleasure. Each meal costs $10/per person, and is delivered fresh with a full set of instructions to get cooking.

As of March 2014, the company was serving up 500,000 meals per month, up from 100k meals/month in August 2013, so growth is apparent. The company also seems to have a $60 million revenue run rate, based on the latest figures for sales and price per plate.

And it makes sense. Blue Apron has the ability to order food by the bulk at a discount, with the exact amount of food it needs determined by the pre-order structure. This takes care of any waste issues and ensures a lower price point for the product early on.

But that’s not to say that Blue Apron doesn’t face competition. Plated is a service that offers an almost identical experience and it has also picked up traction.

Up until now, Blue Apron has raised a total of $8 million, according to CrunchBase. Two earlier rounds were led by Bessemer Ventures, so it’s possible that Bessemer followed on for this round, but not likely.

We’ve reached out to Blue Apron but haven’t heard back. We’ll update the post as soon as we do.

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CrunchBase

OverviewBlue Apron is a New York-based start-up that is changing the way people cook at home. Our weekly subscription service delivers everything you need to make fresh meals. We go shopping for our customers at wholesale, and deliver all the ingredients in exactly the right proportions, along with beautifully printed recipe cards. It's like having your own private chef-- you'll discover new recipes, …